Setting & Mastering Notifications: Alerts, Device Pushes & Weekly Digest

1. The Why: Why Helpful Notifications Matter

The greatest flaw of traditional to-do lists is passive silence. You plan ambitious goals in your Eisenhower Matrix on Monday morning, but by Wednesday afternoon, meetings, urgent emails, and unexpected fires pull your attention away. Without gentle nudges, tasks sit untouched until they turn into emergencies.

DoneIsGood’s notification system is built around practical daily habits:

• Clearing Mental Clutter: You no longer need to keep mental tabs running: "Did I log my client hours today?" or "Did I remember to do my evening habit?" The app shoulders the burden of remembering.
• Protecting Quadrant 2 (Important, Not Urgent): Q2 focus tasks—like strategic planning, learning new skills, and health habits—are the easiest to skip because they lack immediate deadlines. Scheduled reminders ensure Q2 work receives dedicated attention.
• Preventing Fire Drills: The Overdue Alert scans your matrices and flags slipping tasks before deadlines pass, giving you time to reschedule or ask for help before problems escalate.
• Keeping Streaks Alive: Evening habit check-ins arrive right before your bedtime routine, helping you maintain momentum when energy is low.

2. The Notification Architecture

DoneIsGood connects your matrices, habits, and timekeeping to three distinct delivery channels, backed by an automatic weekly digest:

flowchart TD
    subgraph Triggers["1. Notification Triggers"]
        direction TB
        T1["📅 Tasks Scheduled Today & ⚠️ Overdue Sweeps"]
        T2["✅ Daily Habits Check-In & ⏱️ Time Tracking (Pro)"]
        T1 --- T2
    end

    Triggers --> Engine["⚙️ Notification Engine (Timezone Normalization)"]

    Engine --> Channels

    subgraph Channels["2. Personal Delivery Channels"]
        direction TB
        C1["🔔 In-App: Header Bell Badge & Dropdown Panel"]
        C2["📲 Device Push: OS Banners (Works When Closed)"]
        C3["📧 Email: Direct Inbox Alerts with Action Links"]
        C1 --- C2 --- C3
    end

    Channels --> Digest

    subgraph Digest["3. Universal Saturday Digest (All Users)"]
        direction TB
        W1["🗓️ Saturday 09:00 AM (Delivered to All Users)"]
        W2["• Upcoming Week Tasks & Overdue Triage
• Prior Week Wins & Gemini AI Coaching"]
        W1 --> W2
    end

    style Triggers fill:#f8fafc,stroke:#cbd5e1,stroke-width:1.5px,color:#0f172a
    style Engine fill:#eef2ff,stroke:#6366f1,stroke-width:2px,color:#1e1b4b
    style Channels fill:#f0fdf4,stroke:#22c55e,stroke-width:1.5px,color:#14532d
    style Digest fill:#fffbeb,stroke:#f59e0b,stroke-width:2px,color:#78350f
    style C1 fill:#ffffff,stroke:#86efac
    style C2 fill:#ffffff,stroke:#86efac
    style C3 fill:#ffffff,stroke:#86efac
    style W1 fill:#ffffff,stroke:#fde68a
    style W2 fill:#ffffff,stroke:#fde68a

3. How to Access the Alerts Settings Menu

All personal notification preferences are managed in the central Alerts settings tab:

1. Open Profile Settings: On desktop, click your profile name or the gear icon at the bottom of the left sidebar. On mobile, tap Menu in the bottom navigation bar, then tap your profile / gear icon at the bottom of the drawer.
2. Select the Alerts Tab: In the Profile Management modal, click the 🔔 Alerts tab located between Teams and Sync.
3. Verify Your Timezone: At the top of the form, verify that the Timezone dropdown matches your geographical location (e.g., Pacific/Auckland, America/New_York, Europe/London).
   IMPORTANT

   
   All reminder schedules (09:00, 17:00, 20:00) evaluate against your chosen timezone. If you travel across timezones, update this dropdown so alerts arrive at your preferred local time.

4. Live Auto-Save: There is no separate "Submit" button. Every toggle, time picker, or delivery checkbox saves instantly to the cloud, confirmed by the green ✓ Saved pill in the top right corner.

4. Initial Setup: Device-Level Push Notifications

System push notifications allow DoneIsGood to send desktop banners and lock-screen alerts even when the browser tab is closed. This ensures you never miss a time-sensitive alert while working in other applications.

Step 1: Check Browser Compatibility

When you open the Alerts tab, DoneIsGood automatically inspects your current browser for Web Push and Service Worker support. If supported, you will see the System Push Notifications card displaying your device's current permission status:

• Not Granted OS permission has not yet been granted on this specific device. In practice, push notifications are not active until you grant permission.
• Granted This device has allowed OS notifications and is actively registered to receive push banners.
• Blocked / Denied This browser or operating system is currently blocking notifications for DoneIsGood.

Step 2: Grant Permission on This Device

1. Click the [ Enable Push Notifications ] button inside the System Push Notifications card. (You can click this directly anytime permission is missing—there is no need to disable or toggle notifications off first).
2. Your browser will display a native permission prompt:

   "doneisgood.com wants to send you notifications"

3. Click Allow (or Permit).
4. Once granted, DoneIsGood registers an encrypted push token with Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), saves this device to your profile, and the status badge switches to Granted.
5. Repeat this simple one-click step on any other phones, tablets, or computers where you want alerts delivered.

Step 3: Send a Test Notification

To verify that your operating system permits web alerts:

1. Click the [ Send Test Notification ] button.
2. Within 1–2 seconds, a test banner will pop up in your operating system's notification center:

   Test Notification
   This is a test notification from DoneIsGood!

3. Clicking the test banner immediately focuses your browser and navigates to your active matrix.

Troubleshooting: What to Do If Permission Was Denied

If your permission badge displays Blocked / Denied, the browser prompt will not reappear automatically. To unblock it:

• Google Chrome / Brave / Edge:
  1. Click the Lock or Site Settings icon on the left side of the address bar (https://...).
  2. Toggle Notifications to Allow.
  3. Return to DoneIsGood and click [ Check Permission Again ] (DoneIsGood also auto-detects the change when you switch back to the window).
• Apple Safari (macOS & Safari Web Apps):
  1. Go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications (or macOS System Settings > Notifications > DoneIsGood).
  2. Locate doneisgood.com (or DoneIsGood) and set it to Allow.
  3. Also verify that macOS System Settings > Notifications > Safari (and DoneIsGood) has Allow Notifications enabled.
  4. Crucial for "Add to Dock" Web Apps: WebKit caches process notification entitlements. If you changed permissions in macOS System Settings, press Cmd + Q to fully Quit the app and relaunch it. Once reopened, click [ Check Permission Again ] or [ Enable Push Notifications ] to complete activation.
• Apple iOS (iPhone / iPad):
  1. On iOS 16.4+, open DoneIsGood in Safari, tap the Share button, and tap Add to Home Screen.
  2. Open the newly created Home Screen app icon and navigate to Profile > Alerts > Enable Push Notifications.

5. What Alerts to Expect: The Core Notification Types

DoneIsGood provides six distinct notification types. Each can be independently toggled, scheduled to a specific minute, and routed to your preferred delivery channels:

1. 📅 Scheduled Tasks (scheduled-tasks)

• Default Time: 09:00 (Morning kickoff)
• Delivery Channels: In-App, Push, Email (Pro+)
• What You Receive: A curated list of all tasks scheduled for today across your matrices, tagged by Eisenhower quadrant (Q1 Do First, Q2 Schedule).
• Why You Want It: Sets clear morning intentions before you open Slack or email, ensuring your high-leverage priorities take precedence.

2. ⚠️ Overdue Tasks (overdue-tasks)

• Default Time: 10:00 (Mid-morning sweep)
• Delivery Channels: In-App, Push, Email (Pro+)
• What You Receive: Alerts identifying tasks whose scheduled focus date has passed without being completed or archived.
• Why You Want It: Prevents forgotten tasks from silently decaying in backlog obscurity. One click lets you reschedule, delegate, or mark them done.

3. ✅ Habits Check-In (habits-checkin)

• Default Time: 20:00 (Evening reflection)
• Delivery Channels: In-App, Push, Email (Pro+)
• What You Receive: A concise list of incomplete daily habits, prompting you to log completions and write a quick reflection in your habit journal.
• Why You Want It: Habit formation requires evening consistency. This nudge catches you before your evening wind-down so your streaks remain unbroken.

4. ⏱️ Time Tracking Reminder (time-tracking) — Pro Feature

• Default Time: 17:00 (End of workday)
• Delivery Channels: In-App, Push, Email
• Custom Days Selector: Select specific workdays (M T W T F) using the one-click day buttons, ensuring you never receive work prompts on weekends.
• What You Receive: A prompt asking: "Did you log your hours today?" with direct links to log time against completed tasks.
• Why You Want It: Accurate time logs prevent end-of-month invoicing panic and power meaningful productivity analytics.

5. 👥 Contact Reminders (contact-reminders) — Project & Enterprise

• Default Time: 09:30
• Delivery Channels: In-App, Push, Email
• What You Receive: Alerts highlighting clients, colleagues, or contacts who are due for a regular check-in.
• Why You Want It: Keeps your personal and professional relationships warm without needing a separate sales tool.

6. 📊 Daily Digest Email (daily-digest) — Pro Feature

• Default Time: 08:00 (Email-only)
• What You Receive: A concise morning briefing summarizing yesterday's completed tasks, habits achieved, hours tracked, and today's upcoming priorities.

6. The Saturday Weekly Digest (Sent to All Users)

In addition to your customizable daily alerts, DoneIsGood includes an automated Weekly Digest designed to provide closure on the past week and momentum for the week ahead.

When Does It Arrive?

The Weekly Digest is delivered every Saturday morning at 09:00 in your local timezone. It arrives just as your workweek wraps up, giving you a calm, structured weekend review ritual.

Smart Spam Suppression

To respect your inbox, the digest is intelligent and non-spammy:

• If you have no unread messages, no tasks scheduled for the coming week, no overdue items, and no completed tasks from the prior week, the digest is automatically suppressed.
• It only sends when there is actionable information or accomplishments to celebrate!

What's Inside the Weekly Digest?

7. Delivery Channels & Tier Feature Matrix

8. Best Practices for an Uncluttered Notification Flow

1. Stagger Your Notification Times:
   Don't set all alerts to 09:00. Spread them out across the day:
   • 08:30 — Daily Digest Email (review over breakfast)
   • 09:00 — Scheduled Tasks (launch morning focus)
   • 10:30 — Overdue Tasks (clear hurdles after first work block)
   • 17:00 — Time Tracking (log hours before closing laptop)
   • 20:00 — Habits Check-In (evening reflection)
2. Use Push for Urgency, In-App for Flow:
   If you find browser push banners distracting while deep in focus mode, leave push notifications enabled only for Overdue Tasks and Habits Check-In, while relying on the in-app bell badge for daily task lists.
3. Turn the Saturday Digest into Your Weekly Review:
   Spend 5 minutes every Saturday morning opening the Weekly Digest. Read your AI Task Advisor coaching notes, clear overdue items into your Planning Studio backlog, and enter Monday with zero anxiety.
4. Silence Backlogs & Idea Dump Boards:
   If you have a board you use just for brainstorming or saving future ideas, mark it as Backlog & Ideas (Unmanaged) from the board menu (⋮ > Properties). Tasks on that board won't trigger push alerts, overdue warnings, daily emails, or weekly digest reminders—so you don't need to turn off notifications for your whole account just to save a few ideas.